Sub menu

Casual Observation

It’s true. One lesson from the 2013 government shutdown is that no one really remembered it when it came time to vote in the 2014 midterms. It might have even helped the Republicans by satisfying their base that they were fighting. So, whatever the short term fallout might be from the current shutdown, it might not have any impact on the upcoming elections.

It could be that some ultimate compromise helps Trump by proving he can split from his base and cut a deal with the Democrats. Or, a deal could hurt him by demoralizing his base.

I think the lesson is that it’s better to focus on getting the best outcome on substance than worrying about how it’s playing in the polls.

Recent Networkwide Posts

David Brooks has penned another insipid column, but this one is really poorly constructed, too. Once again, he relies on a dichotomy to try to explain a many-sided problem. So he introduces the least novel of […]

You’ll see why I am posting the following bit of history in a minute. Just take your time and read through this carefully:
Foreign Service Officer John S. Service is dismissed from the Department of State […]

Ryan Goodman of the New York Times lays things out in such a way that it’s easy to see the outlines of a fairly slam-dunk case of obstruction of justice in the Russia probe. In addition to that already verified […]

It’s true. One lesson from the 2013 government shutdown is that no one really remembered it when it came time to vote in the 2014 midterms. It might have even helped the Republicans by satisfying their base that […]

As a writer and editor, I am appalled that WikiLeaks decided to publish Michael Wolff’s new book Fire and Fury. If you want to do the right thing, you’ll go buy it rather than stealing it from the WikiLeaks link. […]

Featured Posts

Here’s What I Promised

This post has 0 votes. Log in now to vote As promised, my big feature went live tonight on the Washington Monthly website. As a special bonus, there’s also an interview I conducted with Virginia gubernatorial candidate Tom Perriello. They…

Trump’s Goldman Sachs-Style Economic Populism

This post has 0 votes. Log in now to vote I know that we live in a post-factual political environment, but optics still matter. That’s why it didn’t make a ton of sense for the Trump administration to send out…